We are trying to use positive reinforcement to modify behavior with our soon-to-be 7 yr. old. Sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it doesn’t. We have a chart with a place to mark when we think Ben has been “caught being good.”
If I had a chart like this for pop culture, I would award a check mark to the new Sandra Bullock movie, The Blind Side. I might modify the category to read, “Caught showing us what Jesus is like.” If you don’t know by now, the Blind side is the story of a white Memphis family taking in a Black homeless boy, and their journey together. Without beating the viewer in the face the film tells the story of violence, poverty and addiction was well as the power of redemption that comes with unconditional love.
One of the bonuses of seeing the film was that I got to watch it with my oldest son’s family which includes my daughter-in-law and two grandsons. Ben and I joined them for an early showing on Thanksgiving day. I don’t know if the film will do a lot of box office business, but it should. It is a powerful story. Watch the Trailer
Don’t tell anyone but I really like the TV series, Heroes. Of all the heroes, however, I think my favorite is Hiro Nakamora (don’t know if I spelled that right). He’s the Japanese guy who can bend time and space and is a mean samarai sword fighter. I think he is currently without his powers in the series’ timeline, but he still follows his “Hero” philosophy.
I have had a few heroes during my life. Of course, the problem with having people for heroes is that they are people. One of my heroes was John Wimber. Of course, it was helpful that I did not personally know John. I only knew him through his writing, recordings, videos and live preaching. Unfortunately I have been acquainted with a number of people who knew John in his “life-size” version. My interactions with them sort of caused John to become a little less of a hero in my eyes. He’s still up there, but I know a little too much about him, I think.
One of my heroes is a guy named Steve Sjogren. Even though I have gotten to know him a little more up close and personal in the last few years, and he is more life-size than he was before, believe me, I have a great deal of admiration for him. Against great odds he started a church really small and grew it really big by making kindness a necessary part of his DNA and the DNA of his church. After suffering a seriously disabling medical accident he has come back to continue to make contributions in spreading the kindness of God around the world.
I have other heroes, some who are nearby and some who are further away, some who are younger and some who are older, some who are acquaintances and friends, some who are my family and some who are strangers. I remember one of the most heroic things my father ever did. He cared for his mother as she lay bedridden by a debilitating illness over her last months. I really admire him for that.
I guess that being a little more seasoned can cause a person to understand that all humanity is flawed. It is when we struggle against our flaws and persevere in attempting to go above our “normal” humanity that our true “heroism” emerges. One of my mentors used to say “I want to grow up before I grow old.” I think part of the meaning of that statement is learning to accept ourselves, flaws and all, as much as we are willing to accept others.
Still, we really like it when our heroes are larger than life, don’t we?
My wife and I saw Slumdog Millionaire this afternoon. I had already seen the film, so I was able to warn her about the most difficult spots. This film is a paradox: uplifting and degrading, occasionally funny and incredibly sad, full of romance and tragedy.
I will have to admit, after viewing this film, I have no desire to visit Mumbai, ever. I am a fat American who really should stay pretty close to home, I think. Our local cinema complex has a play center where Benjamin can spend a couple of hours while his parents see a movie. It is great. All of the child care workers know Ben well, because we go to the movies nearly every weekend.
You don’t need my recommendation to see Slumdog, after all it won a ton of Academy Awards. But along with Gran Torino, it is one of those astoundingly spiritual films that was probably not intended to be that way.
I saw Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon last week. Slumdog really blew me away. Very disturbing images and scenes. It is an astonishing film, very unpredictable in a sort of predictable way.
Frost/Nixon was a study in arrogance and devastation. I came away with a lot more respect for David Frost. I found Frank Langella’s performance as Nixon uncanny and strangely sympathetic.
Over at Next-Wave our Ten-Year Retrospective Cover Story earned some criticism for the lack of diversity in those interviewed. I will say this to women who are active in emerging church leadership, send us your articles. They will get a sympathetic reception.
Next-Wave editor Scott Bane has an excellent post on his blog, Fusing the Two Halves of Jesus. Read it and wait with me for the next part of Scott’s article.
I recently finished reading Warren Buffet’s biography, The Snowball by Alice Schroeder. It is an incredible story and a loooooong book. The snowball is a metaphor for the compounding effect of money. The effect of spirituality and religion in Buffet’s life was conspicuous in its absence. The result of the snowball effect in Buffet’s life is massive wealth which he is in the process of giving away through acts of philanthropy.
His current plan is to give a great deal of his wealth to the Gates Foundation. His reason? They are geared up to handle the distribution of such a massive amount of money.
I’ll admit, reading the book made me want to be a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder and attend one of BRK’s annual stockholder’s meetings. Even at today’s depressed share price, however, I am unlikely to become even a “B” stock owner.
My friend, Steve Sjogren, would probably want to point out another kind of snowball effect, the compounding of acts of kindness in our daily lives. Seems like something worth considering, especially when massive amounts of perceived wealth are disappearing before our eyes.
Jesus taught a radical view of adultery. It sparked then presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter, to confess in his famous Playboy interview: "I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times…" I am assuming that Carter himself was not a "reader" of Playboy, or he might have been tempted to follow Jesus’ admonition and pluck out his eye, or cut off his hand!
One wonders what Jesus’ teaching would say about the fact that the internet opens a pornography shop in the home of every family who owns a computer with an internet connection? Clearly we need to go beyond paying lip service to a desire for purity and take concrete physical steps to maintain sexual purity, perhaps falling short from plucking out eyes and severing extremities.
Conventional wisdom says that "adultery in the heart" is more of a man-male problem than a woman-female problem. However, I think it is fair to say that while its expression may differ by gender, that there is plenty of lust to go around, especially in a society where adultery is the norm in popular culture. Just tune your television to any of the CBS situation comedy offerings and you will be able to confirm what I am saying. A CBS’s offering on Friday nights has a young single woman pursuing her soulmate at the urging of a psychic by engaging in serial sexual encounters with her ex-boyfriends. If she doesn’t find her one and marry within a year, says the psychic, she will be alone her entire life.
As I write this I kind of feel guilty about watching the first two episodes of this series all the while wondering if people really live this way, talk this way and think this way in real life.
It seems clear that Jesus’ followers will pursue the ideal of sexual purity. As one who, along with former President Carter and every man I know, has miserably failed the adultery-free lifestyle test, I find it a radical standard to aim for, but one worth striving for just the same.
We are trying to use positive reinforcement to modify behavior with our soon-to-be 7 yr. old. Sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it doesn’t. We have a chart with a place to mark when we think Ben has been “caught being good.”
Watch the Trailer 
